A Time To fight
by themarkedfreelancer
Summary: When the reds and blues find a mysterious freelancer agent Arkansas and her very childish and destabilizing AI Kappa they are once again launched into another adventure. but what they don't realize is they are being watched by someone who would spill all there blood to get something that Arkansas has. Oh what have they gotten themselves into this time.
1. Valhalla

_**valhalla**_

"Well well well what do we have here?" I said looking down upon the two bases below." Kappa access simulation trooper's files I want to know everything about this simulation bases." I said to my AI who was briefing me on agent Washington's last mission. Kappa appeared at my side a small figure not her usual size which was as big as me with no armor on. She was trying to stay hidden so she no more than a few inches tall. She was one of the AI's that looked at least semi normal she had long gold hair, a gold tee shirt, black pants, black tennis shoes and gold eyes that looked strangely human despite the color. She was also holding a data pad.

"Okay let's see what we have here. The base on the left is blue the one on right is red. I'll start with red base. On the roster is Grif, Simmons, Donut and there Sargent Sarge. You want the personal info or do you want the basics." Kappa said looking up at me.

"Just the basics I want to get in and out quickly" I said still staring at blue base knowing that's the base I wanted.

"Okay umm let's see grif has orange armor donut is in pink…." I could hear her trying not to laugh.

"What are you doing" I asked the giggling AI.

"Donut is a dude" she said laughing

"I don't get it" suddenly my HUD started flashing red and my recovery signal started blaring in my ear. A message flashed on my screen.

WARNING AI DESTABALIZING WARNING PREPARE FOR MANUAL CONTROL A RECOVERY AGENT WILL BE SENT TO ASSIST

"Shit. Kappa offline do not risk any more damage to your shelf." I said trying to remain calm not noticing the movement down below.

Washington stopped trying to stop tucker and caboose from bickering and listened to the information that was being given out to him. "Shut up you two" wash yelled at the aqua and royal blue soldiers. Both soldiers turned to look at their clearly bothered friend.

"What's up with you?" Tucker said to wash who was pacing around the inside of blue base.

"Yeah what's wrong agent washingtub?" Caboose said ever so innocently.

"I just got a recovery signal." Wash said still pacing

"What's a recovery signal?" Church said entering the living room which held tucker, caboose and wash

"It's something that's embedded in every freelancers armor when their injured or their AI or armor malfunction the signal activates and goes out to an available recovery agent." Wash had stopped pacing but now he seemed to be twitching every so often now.

"And what about the one you just got?" Tucker asked starting to get why wash was so worried

"Her AI is malfunctioning and she's heading this way." Wash said

"Are you going to help her?" Caboose asked only understanding that someone was in danger

"I don't know caboose she's dangerous but….." wash was cut off by church yelling

"You're not really going to help her are you she's a freelancer and you said it your self she's dangerous you can't trust her!"

"Church if she's coming here she either doesn't know I'm here or this is really important"

"How important are we talking?"

"Life or death."

"Who is this chick?" Tucker said not understanding why she wouldn't come here just because wash was here.

"Her code name is Arkansas but she goes by fox. Her AI is kappa. And kappa is the alpha's trust. But fox will rarely trust people. She's the one freelancer that I don't want to die but don't want to go near her either."

"Well why don't you want to go near her?"

"Because something happened back at freelancer that she isn't too happy about and it was my fault. And the first time I met her she punched me because she thought I was looking at her breasts."

"Well were you?" Tucker asked

"Yes."

"Okay let's cut the bullshit and answer the question that everyone is asking what do we do about her." Church asked getting annoyed at his teammates

"Her AI is destabilizing. She will be dangerous. Well more dangerous than she normally is. But if she has something to tell us we have to help her. Also a few more things you should know before we go after her is we're going to need doc and the reds. We will need doc because I think he will be able help if she already doing something that the freelancers called memory spiraling. And the reds in case she decide to just kill us all. Which she can do easily by way. Oh and she cannot know I'm there or that doc is a medic or that we're going to have to take kappa out of her head. Any questions? No? Good." Wash finished and then walked out before the blues could even digest everything that he had told them.

Wash and the blues went across the canyon towards red base to collect the reds an or their next dangerous adventure


	2. blue base

Blue Base

I quickly toke off my helmet and threw it on the ground. Not enough I need to destroy the signal that is coming from the helmet. I toke out my shotgun and shot the beeping helmet. The noise stopped but I shot it again just to make sure. Just as I turned back towards the canyon a pain shot through my head.

"Shit" I was hoping the condition of my AI was not that bad yet.

First the pain then the delusions and then the memory spiral. I shivered at the thought. One of the many possible horrible deaths that could await me. Though I would hope not. And I'm so close to the sim troopers now I hope I can hold against kappa's destabilizing long enough to at least convince them to tell me where Washington is. There was a rustling behind me…..

Wash and the rest of the blues reached red base with church whining the whole way about something or another.

"Would you shut up already!" wash yelled turning to face the cobalt clad soldier

"No" church snapped back

"What the hell is your problem church?"

"I just don't see the point in going to save this freelancer" church admitted

"Trust me church you'll like her. You used to know her back in freelancer" wash said remembering church when he could still be called alpha.

"Wait really I knew and liked her" church was shocked the only freelancer he ever liked was Tex.

"Yes you two were partners in crime almost broke every code, conduct and rule there was at freelancer. You also used to let her hack into and look through freelancers files. You both found it great fun. You also haven't changed too much since you where fragmented. I'll be surprised if you two aren't back to your old ways by tomorrow." Wash said having faith that fox and church will be hacked into the UNSC database wreaking havoc as soon as church mentions the reds wiping the blues from the freelancer database.

"I guess I'll take your word for it" church said not convinced in the slightest. They headed inside red base. Not noticing the fully armored body fall from the cliff nearby.

I looked behind me towards the dense forest and saw a flash of a green. _Green who could that be?_ _wash? no it can't be. A local blue from the base down below? hmmm not likely. A freelancer sent towards this base by the chairmen on the same mission as me? Now that I can buy!_

"I've already seen you might as well come out. Well unless you want me to shoot which I will. Happily might I add."

"Now now no need to get violent foxy!" came the sarcastic reply. _Utah I should have guessed_. I thought bitterly.

"Go away Utah! Now!" I yelled at the cocky man who was in over his head trying to pick a fight with me.

"Well that's not very nice of you foxy." He said getting way to close for comfort "Where's your helmet foxy?" he asked tilting his head.

"Didn't you hear me or have you gone deaf. I said fuck off! Oh and while you're at it stop calling me foxy. Its fox or ark got it?" I said getting a little mad at the freelancer.

"Oh right it's only that bastard Washington that can call you that. I wonder what the chairmen would do if he found out you and little Washington were lovers once upon a time. Quite a usef..." before he could finish I grabbed him by the chest plate and switched my places with him so he was right at the edge of the steep cliff that led to Valhalla. I pulled out my knife that was different from the normal freelancer knife. Because this one was small and slim it also had a rather elegant design going from the tip of the blade to the handle. I pressed the knife to Utah's throat that one area that the armor spilt and was unprotected. "This would be the time that you start to think about those last two sentence's you said. And to start asking forgiveness from the paragon of your chosen religion." I said deciding if I should just kill him to be safe…. Or let him go out of the goodness of my heart. _Ha! Like that would ever_ _happen!_

"You don't have the guts to ki…." Once again I cut him off. But this time by throwing him off the cliff.

"Have a nice fall!" I yelled down to the falling man. _I wonder if he'll live or if I'll have to finish him off._ I wondered as I walked off towards my warthog which was parked a few feet away. I hopped on the warthog and went down the narrow path towards blue base when I reached the base I pulled out a data pad that I had among my other things in a tan duffle bag that I stored in the small area normally used for storing ammo for the machine gun on the back of the warthog. I turned the data pad on and looked at the remaining info of these two bases. Starting with blue base. Then saving the rest of red for later. I walked into blue base.

"Hello. Anyone here." Yelled into the base. But there came no reply. _Ok I'll just scan for life signs_….._ right no more helmet_. _Hmmm I guess_ _I'll have to do this the ole fashion way_ _room to room no place unchecked_. I walked into the base a little more. The entrance opened up right into the living area I looked to my left and saw three steps leading up to a circle table with several chairs around it. I walked up the steps and noticed that as I every time I take a step on one of the steps the top of that step would light up blue and every time I lifted my foot off one it would dim down to looking black again. Fun. I thought as I reached the top. Looked around once I was up on the landing of sorts. In front of me was the table. To my left was nothing but a pillar right in front of the stairs and to my right was a large kitchen. I decided to look through the kitchen. It was simple and standard. A counter then stove then a fridge then another counter with several cabinets above everything. On the first counter there was something to change my opinion at first which was all this stuff was very standard. This was not standard at all it was a high tech coffee maker like the one we had back at freelancer with holograms all the special features too. Expensive. There is no way this was cheap. Were these in all the sim bases? Hmmm intriguing. Wait what am I thinking? I don't need more questions I need answers for the ones I already have god damnit!

I sighed then looked to see what was on the left side of the kitchen. There was counter with a microwave on it. Then a counter with sink then dishwasher then yet another counter. And the entire kitchen along with everything in it was a dull grey. I turned and walked out of the kitchen, down the stairs and then stopped to get a good look at the living area. There were three couches arranged in a half circle in the middle of the living area on top of a light blue square rug. Each one seats four people. They were facing the outside wall which had a lovely wood TV stand pressed against it. There was a large TV in the top part of the stand and in the bottom were two doors that I opened. On the left side there was an Xbox and several games. on the there was a DVD player and below were more movies than there were games on the left and several different genres. I closed the drawers. and backed up into a glass table with remotes on it. one for the TV. one for the DVD player. and three Xbox remotes.. _Three one for this Leonard church, one for tucker and one for caboose. Why do I keep thinking that I'm missing something?_

I walked out of the living area and towards my right I found myself in a hallway. I walked to the end of the hallway. There were six rooms to my right and three to my left at the end of the hallway was a stair case that went to the roof. There were boxes behind the stair case but I decided that I did not need to look in them. I turned around and found the first door had a name plate on it. _Had I missed these on all the doors?_ I leaned back on my heels and saw name plates on all the doors. _Yes. Yes I did. Sometimes I wonder if my IQ is 160 or if that's one thing that the medics at freelancer got wrong_. I tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge. Locked. _Damn._ I walked back towards the entrance and out to my warthog I jumped inside and then something struck me. I have a lock picking set. I got out and looked through my bag. I then pulled out a slim long black case. _Just what I'm looking for. Now let's go see what hides behind locked doors._ I walked back inside and went to the door at the end of the hall. I looked at the name plate.

**L. Church**

I gave a quick look around no one around still. I got the case out then opened it reveal a gold elite lock picking set. Only issued too trust worthy government agents. And of course criminals that pay a huge lump sum of money can get them. Or me who stole it from a government agent who was supposed to make sure I didn't get into trouble. You have to give him credit though rather hard to guard someone when you're dead. I took out the tools I needed and opened the door. I held the case in my hand I'll need it for the other doors I'm sure of it.

I walked out of the living area and towards my right I found myself in a hallway. I looked around no one around I entered and saw nothing that could tell anything about this person. Except that he uses a sniper. I went to the next room. I looked at the name plate again.

**L. Tucker **

I tried the door yep locked. I once again picked the lock and looked inside once again no one. I entered the room and wished I hadn't. On every inch of the walls were posters with women that had on pretty much nothing. I looked on his night stand and found an entire stack of playboys. There was also a computer but I decided against hacking into it. I'm brave but not that brave. I closed the door and blinked. I was hoping that blinking would help forget that I didn't. I walked to the next door. And read the name plate.

**M. Caboose**

I tried the door expecting it to be locked. But to my surprise it wasn't. _Hmmm unexpected I like._ I walked into the room and found every inch covered in what looked like crayon drawings. _Ok I no longer like. That's just a bit weird hopefully I'll be able to talk to this caboose and be able to understand. _I looked on the night stand and was not surprised to find crayons, paper and a cup of half full water. I walked to the next door and looked at the name plate but this one looked hand drawn unlike the others which looked typed this intrigued me.

**D. Mason**

D. mason is it…. No no it can't why would he be here….. But…..hmmm.

AUTHOR NOTES

PLEASE REVIEW SO I KNOW IF IM DOING GOOD OR NOT.

NEXT CHAPER….

WHILE FOX FINDS SOME FACTS OUT ABOUT THIS MAN THAT IS NOT ON THE ROSTER THE REDS AND BLUES FIND FOX'S KILL, DOC FAINTS AND WASH REVEALS A LITTLE TOO MUCH. AND WE FIND OUT A LITTLE MORE ABOUT FOX.


	3. Doc

**Doc**

Wash and the blues walked into red base unaware of the body falling from the nearby cliff. They walked into the kitchen where Dounut and Doc were washing dishes while grif Simmons and Sarge sat at the table drinking coffee.

"We need your help." Wash said taking the lead.

"Ha why should we help you? Your dirty blues!" Sarge said.

"Well if you help us we will allow you to have the freelancer we need help to save."

"What kind of help do you need?"

"The freelancer we need help to save is very….. How do I put this… um… violent. And that's putting it nicely. We need you to come along to help convince her that we are not her enemy without making it seem like we are trying to trick her. Her name is Arkansas."

"He left out the part of she can't know that he's here and Doc needs to come along." Tucker said making it seem more like they were tricking the reds instead of asking for their help.

"How good is this freelancer?" Sarge asked only seeing the chance to crush the blues once and for all. And completely ignoring Tucker.

"She's one of the best. Hell the first time I met her she broke my jaw and that was when we were fifteen. And she's only gotten better since." Wash said secretly very happy that the red was stupid and ready to help him.

"Hold on are we really going to risk are necks to save Wash's girlfriend!?" Grif said finally speaking up.

"She can't be Wash's girlfriend Grif he's a dirty no good rotten scumbag blue!" Wash twitched and started shifting from one foot to the other until he spoke up.

"Umm acutely Sarge…" every one turned to look at Wash. "Well… umm. Back in freelancer we were rather…. Umm… close?" Wash finished not very comfortable with everyone staring at him. In the awkwardness no one noticed Doc slip from the room.

Doc just needed some fresh air. He was going out with them to save this freelancer. But why? Did this mean that she was injured? What if he couldn't save her? If this freelancer and Wash were close than what would Wash do if the freelancer died?

When Doc made it outside he took a good look around and saw the lush grass, the crates the reds had outside their base, the green armored men lying in a small pool of blood, the waterfall…. Wait green man lying in a pool of blood!? Doc raced towards the soldier while his own thoughts raced. _Oh god what if this is the freelancer Wash was talking about? Will he be blamed for this?_

I pulled out my lock pick set once again and made quick work of the doors lock. I hesitated for a moment D. mason was the man's name so if it is him it could spell trouble. _You know what fuck this I'm going in might as well since I already picked the lock._

I walked into the room and looked around. Nothing to show me who this person is. I don't get it how could there be someone here who is not on the roster. I looked at the nightstand. A computer. _Oh yay a computer. It must be my lucky day. I might figure out who this person is after all._

I opened up the computer and it asked for the password. I take out a memory stick and placed it into a slot. Several programs opened I clicked on a few things and then I closed each one and entered the words saint margarine st. I looked at the folders on the desktop. Nothing. I opened photos. I clicked on the first folder it was locked. I clicked on few things and then a window opened. It was blank. I went over and clicked on it and typed file 24968-photos/alt. I waited until a response came from hac-file. One of my memory stick's files.

The response came it said. File 24968-photos/alt. please type a command for this file.

I typed out the command. Unlock nt/alt/nd.

The window disappeared and the file unlocked. The first photo I saw was of a Caucasian male with short messy black hair, he had dark brown eyes, and he was about sixteen and wearing a red tee shirt and black pants and red sneakers. There were two other people in the photo. I looked at each one. There was another male who had tanned skin, very short black hair, he had dark green eyes that had flacks of blue in them, and he looked about the same age as the other male in the photo. And was wearing a white shirt and khaki shorts with black sneakers. The two men were leaning on a female who had long dark brown hair that went just past her shoulders, she had deep blue eyes that had flakes of black in them . She looked to be about the same age as the other two males. And was wearing a black shirt with a sparkly gold design on it, she had black wrist straps on that carried the same design on them, she had black pants on and black sneakers. I looked at the people in the photo and smiled as I realized I could name each person. The first man was David Mason codename Washington, the other man was Alexander Clark codename Maine and the woman was Crystal Marks codename Arkansas or fox or well me. I could remember taking this photo we were going to out to get something to eat and then find somewhere to wreak some havoc. The person taking the photo was my sister Alexis Marks codename Arizona. I relocked and closed the file then the same for the computer. I now knew who the mystery man was and why he wasn't on the roster. _Now I just have to find him._ I walked past the other doors not caring whose they were. I got what I needed. I walked at a quicker pace than before. Once I got out the door I went to my warthog and put my lock pick set away. Then hopped in to my vehicle and drove to red base.

"Stop staring at me!" wash said angrily.

"Dude you have a girlfriend?" tucker asked astonished.

"Ex-girlfriend." Wash corrected

"Right because you did something that she's not too happy about…. Dude did you cheat on her!" tucker asked smiling behind his helmet.

"What no! Look it's a long story. But I didn't cheat on her. Look can we just ignore that I said anything? Please?" wash said hand over his visor.

"Ok I'll leave you alone. For now at least. Hey what's this freelancer look like anyways?"

"She will either be wearing silver or black and gold armor. If she for some reason doesn't have any armor on….."

"Bow chicka bow wow" Tucker said smiling.

"Shut up Tucker! As I was saying if she doesn't have any armor on than she has long brown hair, blue eyes and will more than likely be aiming a gun at your head." Wash said glaring at Tucker the entire time. The sound of two gunshots sounded throughout the canyon. The reds and blues ran out the door towards the gunshots.

Doc reached the body. He examined the body they were bleeding badly. He barely touched the helmet before a pistol was pressed to the bottom of his helmet forcing his head up. Doc froze. _What do I do?_

"Y… you're a…Arkansas right?" Doc was trembling and stammering trying to force the words out.

"Ha ha you think I'm that bitch? Oh that's rich since she's the one who threw me off that cliff." The soldier was now standing up. "I wonder what dear little Arkansas would think if I just killed you right now? Hmm that sounds like a wonderful experiment let's find out the results shall we!" the soldier knocked Doc back a bit. And then shot him in the abdomen. Doc could barely make out someone speaking. The last thing Doc saw was someone in black and gold armor without a helmet jump out of a warthog and yell Utah.

I drove towards red base until I was there but what I found was not what I expected. Utah was standing over a soldier in purple armor who was bleeding heavily.

"No offence. but I just don't like Arkansas. And I know this will affect her since she won't be able to save you."

"UTAH! No offence…." Utah looked towards me. I pulled my pistol out and aimed. "But I just don't like you." I pulled the trigger and a deafening crack rang out of Utah's visor breaking. His body fell backwards and blood started to pool around him. I ran towards the purple soldier. I looked at him for a second frozen. then picked him up and ran towards the entrance to red base. I was met by soldiers from both side's red and blue.

"MOVE! NOW!" I yelled giving them seconds to respond but they did well and pretty much dove out of my way.

"What in Sam's hell is going on here!" a man in standard red army red armor asked.

I ignored him and set the purple armor soldier down on the breakfast bar in the kitchen. I then turned to the soldiers behind me.

"Who's the medic here?" I asked looking at everyone all of them pointed at the purple soldier. "Shit." I said looking behind me. "Okay someone needs to get his armor off while I find some medical supplies."

"You won't find anything we ran out while treating agent Washington for wounds he sustained while fighting the Meta." Said a maroon clad soldier while pointing towards a cobalt and yellow soldier who I assumed to be wash.

I opened a cabinet by the dishwasher and knocked almost everything over until I found what I was looking for. I pulled the rather large unopened bottle of tequila out and set it by the dying man who was thrashing around on the table clearly in pain. "Does anyone here sew?"

"I do." Responded a pink soldier.

"Good bring me a needle and thread. Your chose of color." I said and the soldier ran off to go find a needle and thread. I went to a drawer and pulled out several pure white towels. I turned to find all the rest of the soldiers just staring at me I Went to the medic and pulled his helmet off to reveal a rather cute male with blonde hair and glasses. I toke his chest piece off and placed one hand behind his shoulders and lifted him a few inches up then I started to feel around to see if there was an exit wound. There wasn't. "Shit."

"Okay what the fuck are you doing!?" asked a rather angry orange soldier who came forward and slammed his hands down on the breakfast bar. The pink soldier came back and set the needle and gold thread by the tequila. I looked at the still very angry orange soldier. I sighed and set the medic down very softly.

"I'm going to save him."

"With what booze and thread!?" I smiled and pulled out my knife.

"And a knife." I stopped smiling and set the knife down I grabbed the towels and wiped away some of the blood. Grabbed the knife again and leaned down to the dying soldier. "If can hear me this is going to hurt a lot but I need you to stay as still as you can. Also I'm sorry." I inserted the knife into the gunshot wound and dug around as gently as I could. _Thank god my knife isn't sharp. _I hit a small hard thing. I worked the knife to where I could bring the bullet up with the knife until it came up with even more blood. I pressed the towels down as hard as I could on the wound. The towels all turned a dark red soaked with blood which in turn soaked my hands and filled my nose with the smell of blood. I peeled the towels off and found that there was almost no blood coming up. At this point I don't know if that's good or bad. I opened the tequila and poured it onto the wound the medic squirmed slightly. I then take out the thread and needle and poured the tequila on the needle. I threaded the needle and then started sewing up the wound. When I was done I checked the man's pulse weak but getting stronger. "He will be fine." I said relived myself. "Oh and by the way my name is Arkansas but you can call me fox." Wash started laughing.

"Some things just don't change." Wash said shaking his head.

"And what that supposed to mean Wash." I said crossing my arms. Wash had stopped laughing now.

"That you're still completely and totally insane." I flipped him off.

"You know I have way more important things that I came here for Wash." I said unblinking

"And what would that be?" Wash said crossing his arms.

"To tell you that you're being watched by a man called the chairmen and if he gets to you than you and your friends will be tortured and more than likely killed."

"What!? Why?"

"Because he believes that I will come and try and rescue you all. I have something he wants and I will not just hand it over."

"Well what does he want?"

"An undying army of super soldiers."

**Author's notes**

Well that was fun now wasn't it? I'm going to make the next one longer I promise because I know when I read through this I just fly through it.

Next chapter…

"What do you want Wash!?" I said angrily stopping and turning on my heel to face the man. Wash was about to say something but was cut off by the sound of a sniper shot sounding across the hall. "Whose there?" I yelled pulling out my assault rifle. The people that came around the corner was none other than the Meta and North Dakota.

"North?" wash asked baffled. The Meta and north pulled their weapons on us.

"Get down." I yelled as north and the Meta started shooting at us. I pulled Wash into a room unaware there were stairs right there going down.


	4. The Ball That Dropped

**_The Ball That Dropped_**

**_Authors Note_**

Oh my god! If you hate me I don't blame you! It's been forever and a half since I updated! This chapter is long and I plan on updating very soon…. Like within the next few days. Sorry for the long time since I've updated. Oh and by the way the Italicized words are what that person is thinking (who ever the point of view is) the bold italicized words are the AI's talking in the persons head.

sinisterly

~The marked freelancer

"So you have an undying army of super soldiers?" asked the orange soldier.

"No I just have the key to make one." I said rather matter of factly.

"Ok so why don't you get rid of the information somehow.' A maroon soldier said.

"Because I'm the key. The chairmen doesn't realize it yet but that doesn't change the fact that I'm the key to it." I didn't want to tell then. _This is my biggest secret and I don't really want to share it. But I guess I have to. _

"Ok when you decide to make sense let me know." Said the orange soldier. I picked up my knife again and take off the glove on my right hand I than drew the knife across my hand. I put the knife back in to its compartment.

"What the hell are you doing" yelled a cobalt soldier who sounded a lot like the alpha. The pain from the slice on my hand faded after a full minute. It was fully healed. Sore but healed.

"How did you do that? How does it feel? What are you?" said the cobalt soldier.

"The director experimented on me. Made me this. It's a little sore but that's just my skin trying to adjust to the quick healing it will fade in a few hours. And as for what I am. I'm human and I can die it's just a little harder to kill me and my powers or ability is fading I'll be completely human soon well if the recoil doesn't kill me." I said remembering that was another thing that could kill me.

"The recoil? What is that?" Said the cobalt one

"Okay hold on one second. First who are you? Because you're sounding a lot like the alpha which is kinda freaking me out." I said waving my hands around to exaggerate how freaked I was when in reality I wasn't really that freaked about it. "Two. Why should I tell you what the recoil is?"

"I'm Leonard l. church. You can call me church. And what makes you think that you have the right to ask my name when you haven't told us your name?" church asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"I already told you my name is Arkansas. I would prefer that you call me fox you can call me ark if you want but I prefer not." I replied

"Your real name and I'll tell you all our names." Church offered. _Hmmm end this now or string it along. End it now I think. _

"Alright deal. My name is Crystal Melinda Marks, I have one sister alexia and one brother john. Both younger. You could have asked nicely and I would have told you." I smiled as church cursed under his breath at his lost chance to have something more than just my name for theirs. "Also I already know your names. The royal blue one is caboose, the aqua one is tucker, apparently Wash and of course you. And that's the blue team. The orange one is grif, the red guy is Sarge, maroon is Simmons and Donut has pink armor. That's red team."

"How the hell do you know our names!?" grif asked

"My AI pulled all of your files. Although it was rather hard to find blue teams back up file since someone erased the primary file in freelancer command." Simmons looked away. "Well that will satisfy my AI's curiosity. She really wanted to know what happened to the files. It was pretty funny to watch though."

"Why did you want to know about us?" Simmons asked.

"I was looking for you. All of you."

"Why were you looking for them?" there was a hint of ice and concern in wash's voice. I started laughing.

"Do you really think that I'm the only one that the director experimented on!?" I stopped laughing and looked around._ They don't know. But then how did they….. Unless it's the medic_….. _Or wash._ "Okay I guess I'll explain back in freelancer I would hack into their computers because I found out that they were experimenting on us. We wanted to know who else was being experimented on by the director. But while I was hacking into the medical computers two people came in injured. That was Wash and someone in purple armor who I assume to be your medic, Doc. I was hiding up in the vents trying to get out when I heard the Director come in he was saying something about injecting the soldiers in blood gulch with something." I sighed and ran my hand through my hair it had been a long two months. I looked around to find everyone very tense.

"So what's going to happen to us I mean what did they inject into us? And what is it going to do?" Simmons asked there was fear in his voice, so much it almost broke my heart.

"I can't honestly say that I know. But it is something you don't have to worry about because you have to be activated in order for anything to happen and I know none of you have activated." Almost all of them gave a sigh of relief.

"Cry are you alright?" Wash's voice was uncertain and almost…. Fearful? _What on earth is going on now?_

"Don't. Call. Me. Cry. Washout." I said he knew I hated that nickname just as much as he did me calling him Washout. "Besides I'm fine."

"Really? You just saved a medic and you were laughing about your AI obsessing over something which you never ever would do unless something was wrong with you." Wash shot back crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'll explain later all you need to know is that I'm fine and sane for the time being although if keep pressing the subject then not only will I be insane, you will not be fine. What we all need to do is get you guys to safety. The chairmen will not be merciful if we get caught here."

"Go where?" Grif asked. I sighed.

"I know where a sim base is that has an escape route that leads to a full functioning freelancer facility. Should be safe for now at least."

"What makes you think that we are just going to follow you to this place?" I frowned.

"I would like to think that you don't want to die so you would follow me to safety."

"Prove that were in danger first." I could almost hear Grif smiling.

"Fine I'm sure it won't be long before some assholes start coming for you. Hell they will probably be here with in the next three weeks or so. Because that's not a complete waste of valuable time." I sighed. "Fine I'll prove you guys are in danger but you better be ready to get out of here as soon as they attack. Got it?" they replied by nodding their heads.

"Hang on Cry if you heal Doc than I'll make sure blue team goes with you to this simulation base. Okay?" I sighed.

"I will if you make sure Doc goes also." I said._ I really needed to know who was the one that I needed and I had an itching feeling that it was Doc._

"Deal. Do it." I walked towards the breakfast bar where the medic rested as his body slowly tried to heal its shelf. I leaned down right in his face I needed to do this perfectly so not to kill either myself or him. I put one hand on his wound and one hand on the breakfast bar to make sure I didn't fall on my ass. My head still hovered inches from his face as I heard one of the sim soldiers my guess church ask what I was doing followed shortly by Wash shushing him. I leaned in kissed the man on the lips. There were several beats where all I could hear was my own heartbeat. But then every sound, motion and feeling came rushing to me as Doc's eyes opened and I pulled away as he shot up freaking out his wound only appeared as a bad scar now healed. I leaned on the breakfast bar heavily as the pain shot throughout my abdomen it felt as though I had been shot. The pain settled in one spot and became worst and worst. All I could hear was ringing and the almost distant sounds of questions from the very close sim soldiers. By sheer force of will I pulled my shelf up, stood straight and focused on the sounds around me bringing my shelf back to earth and back on my toes. The sim soldiers upon realizing that I was not almost doubled over in pain stopped surrounding Wash and started surrounding me clamoring for answers to their questions. My head felt like it was going to explode and for a minute I actually thought it would. The sim trooper's voices echoed in my head and made my head feel like someone had lit my brain on fire. It was too much and if they kept at it I might pass out.

"SHUT UP!" I covered my ears and hoped they would be silent at least until my head stopped pounding and the feeling like I was going to vomit passed. After several minutes passed filled with utter blissful silence I felt like I could listen to the reds and blues questions and my head not explode. "Okay what do you guys want to know?" they all started asking questions at the same time which hurt my head not as bad as before but to wear I couldn't just shrug it off either. "One at a time guys!" they all stopped and looked at each other than began yelling their questions at the same time again. I sighed and looked at the sky with a "why me" expression. I take a deep breath and spoke again. "You all are idiots!" I yelled the idiots part. "Now Doc has the most reason to be asking question so Doc ask away."

"Um okay who are you?" Doc asked he seemed confused. I couldn't blame him.

"My name is Arkansas though I prefer Fox or just Crystal." My tone was even he is not use to the advanced healing and I could already tell it was taking its toll on him he should rest and let his new tissue adjust. Which is most of the reason why I chose him to go first when he was done he could get a shirt on and go to bed.

"Okay Crystal why were you kissing me?" I smiled at him.

"Because you're cute." He blushed and I laughed. I looked him over quickly since I didn't have the chance before. He had blonde hair that was just long enough to hang in his eyes, he had lovely dark green eyes that were obscured by kind of geeky glasses and now that I was paying attention he was actually pretty muscular. Not to mention handsome. "I'm kidding you were injured and I have advanced healing ability that I can temporarily displace and give to someone else. But as my ability is very temperamental it can only be in someone else for a few minutes. So I figured out the perfect way to heal someone else but I need a complete circuit which pretty much means I place my hand on the wound to point the healing in a certain place and I usually just hold the other person's hand or something of the sorts but as I am not on the top of my game for many reasons so it needs a little more physical connection so I kissed you although I was not expecting you to wake up that fast. Although no one has healed that quickly before either."

"Okay why do I feel like I was shot right where there is now a scar?"

"Because you were shot. It will hurt for about one or two weeks but with each day it should feel better. And to be quite honest you should be resting. Now can I ask you a question?"

"Umm sure I guess."

"How bad are you feeling right now?" I smiled as I said this.

"Well every part of me hurts my abdomen the worst, I'm confused, I feel like I'm going to pass out, I feel weak and to be honest I feel like I just had a great power in me that has left me and left me drained of energy."

"You should go rest then. Your body is still adjusting to the healing and if you push your shelf to much then you'll rip your wound open again."

"Fine I'll go to bed." He said reluctantly and then disappeared down a hallway I assume towards where his room was. I looked towards the rest of the sim soldiers.

"Who's next?" no one answered. "No one really?"

"I don't want these no good rotten scumbags knowing what I have to say! I will ask my questions at breakfast along with my fellow reds! See you then." Sarge said then promptly ran down a hallway. _I feel like I just fell down the rabbit hole and there just went the mad hatter._

"Oh I got a question. Why did you save me?" Wash asked.

"Stupid question." I shot back not wanting to talk about it.

"Okay why were you going into the freelancer files when you knew that the director was watching? I mean did you even think about the people around you!?" Wash asked clearly mad. But this just made me madder.

"Did I even think about the people around me!? Why do you think that I was digging through freelancer files!? Why do you think that I betrayed the only family that I had left? Why must you always-"I stopped mid-sentence trying to control my anger. "Fuck you Wash!" It didn't work. I turned around and walked out the entrance to the base I got into my warthog and drove around the to the other side of the base I could clearly see the entrance to the base but I was also pretty far away so not to be disturbed by any noise that would come from the base. I got out and walked to the back of my warthog and jumped up onto where there should have been a machine gun but instead there was nothing but a nice large flat bed for cargo although the bottom could lift up and it was jammed pack with guns and mounted on the sides were swords and tomahawks maybe a few knifes thrown in here and there. I don't remember all the weapons that were in there seeing how it had been a long time since I loaded it. I sat down and propped myself against one of the small ledges that are on the side of the warthog. I gazed up at the sky as I put my arms behind my head to prop it up. The sun was lower in the sky than usual as it was almost that time of winter that the sun would go down and stay down for three weeks by this time tomorrow this base would be plunged into darkness. I couldn't help the shudder that hit me there would be no way of seeing for the entire time we would be spending here at least we are going to go where there was a moon. But for some reason the moon and sun will be on the other side of the planet creating a solar eclipse for the three weeks instead of the moon and sun switching for the three weeks. I always found it strange that the moon never moved from that side of the planet. I pulled out my data pad and tried to figure out how to stop my AI from destabilizing as I slowly fell asleep.

POV SWITCH

WASH

I sighed as I flopped down onto the reds couch. Tucker and Wash were the only people left in the room

"Dude what was all that about?" Tucker asked

"I had a few questions I guess."

"What the hell was that though?" I sighed again.

"During freelancer me and crystal were together but when she found out what was going on in freelancer she didn't want to tell anybody because she didn't want the word to spread to the director. She didn't even tell me! So when the director found out what she was doing he take it out on me. She was the reason epsilon was given to me so that I would go insane and kill her when I found out. But it didn't work because the director thought that crystal had told me about her super healing and would there for make sure that she was dead. But she didn't tell me. When she healed she didn't remember anything about what had led her to looking into freelancer. All she remembered was me attacking her and the missions she had gone on. God what have I done now?"

"You still love her don't you?"

"Don't tell anyone Tucker not even Crystal." I threatened.

"What!? Why not?"

"Because I've put her through enough pain." I couldn't help the sorrow that slipped into my voice.

POV SWITCH

FOX

I woke up in the back of my warthog data pad lying face down on my chest I couldn't see anything around me I guess the sun went down while I was asleep then. I picked up my data pad and read what I had figured out with Kappa before I made her power down. It basically said that I could fix her by hacking into her data core and replacing the corrupted data. I pulled up the data of my AI then I got an idea. I sat up flicked through all the data and found the corrupted data I copied a piece of uncorrupted data and tried replacing the corrupted data with the uncorrupted data I was met with a password lock I didn't pull some fancy hacking trick or anything. I simply typed a lesson that both me and Kappa had found out a long time ago. I only wish we hadn't found out the hard way. There was a few moments and then the transfer was complete and successful. I felt that strange buzzing at the back of my mind that told me my AI was healthy and alive. The gold light lit up the area around me and made me feel safe that I had at least one person that would watch my back no matter what.

"It feels good to be back in action!" Kappa said hitting at the air like a crazy person. I laughed she could always make me laugh even if she wasn't trying.

"It's good to have you back Kappa." She stopped hitting at the air and turned towards me smiling.

"It better damn well be." I laughed again. "I see you found Wash." The smile she had earlier had disappeared now a look of pure hate engulfed her face as she grew to be as tall as me and then sat in front of me both of us just barely fit even with our legs crossed. Kappa held a lot of hate towards Wash because he had betrayed us and there for committed a sin that could never be forgiven in her eyes. She was trust after all. And if you betray me or Kappa you betray us both.

"Yeah. I see you've been looking through my memories again." I was trying to pull away from the topic of Wash. Kappa knew of course but she would understand. She smiled again.

"Nice job taking out Utah I can only imagine what his face looked like when he saw you but I'm sure it was hilarious!" I smiled again and noticed a light from one of the rooms in red base turn on. Then one by one the rest turned on.

"Time to go meet red team!" I beamed at the AI.

"Yay!" And with that my AI disappeared.

I put my data pad away and walked towards red base. I entered to find everyone gathered around a table. I looked around since I didn't have the chance yesterday. When you walk in if you look to your left there is a big flat screen TV sitting on a black stand that I assumed had movies in it their DVD player was in plain view on top of the stand next to the TV. There was a long mahogany and glass coffee table in front of three couches all of which were on a blood red rug looking to my right and down a little bit was the kitchen a mahogany and black granite top breakfast bar stood a good three feet from the matching counters. The fridge, dish washer, coffee maker and microwave were all black the handles and accents on the drawers, cabinets and counters along with the sink were black. Back on the left and behind the couches there was a large round table that Doc, Sarge, Simmons and Grif sat at the table was mahogany and so were the chairs. The entire base smelled of bacon which reminded my stomach that I hadn't eaten in the past two days as I was running from the Chairmen and his goons the entire time, no time to eat when your life is in danger. I gazed down the hallway that turned before I could see what all was down there then walked towards the kitchen that held Donut slaving away over a hot stove he was wearing a pink tank top that held the red army flag, pink sweat pants and a frilly pink apron. I smiled at the pink apron and walked towards the breakfast bar I stood on the opposite side and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Want any help?" I asked nicely. Donut turned around which was the first time I ever saw his face he had green eyes that were nothing like Doc's dark green. Instead Donut had light green eyes that went with his young and may I say girly features and blonde hair the covered his forehead but didn't go to his eyes yet, he pretty young maybe early twenties. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Please." I walked around the breakfast bar to see what we were going to be making. Bacon, pancakes and eggs. **_Sounds yummy_**! My AI chimed in. I smiled.

"You get the bacon and eggs and I'll get the pancakes and coffee. Sound fair?"

"Sure!" I started on the batter for the pancakes. I went to the coffee maker and quickly started the coffee my own little blend. I finished the batter and grabbed a skillet. I walked back over to the stove and saw that the bacon was done and so was the eggs. I put the skillet on the stove and turned on the burner. I poured some batter in and noticed that Donut was standing next to the stove just shifting from foot to foot.

"Something on your mind Donut?" I asked

"Yeah. There is. Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Nope. Ask away."

"Did you really betray your family?"

"I might as well have. The director raised me since I was twelve and when my friends started acting weird I suspected that the director did something to them. So I ignored my sister and brother saying that there was no way that the director did something bad and investigated which turned into me trying to kill the director because if I didn't then he would keep doing what he was doing. Still haven't killed him but at least I sacred him away for now. But I'm not sure if my brother and sister will forgive me for betraying family." I sighed and moved the now done pancakes onto a plate and poured in more batter.

"I'm sure they will forgive you."

"You know it sounds better coming from you than my AI since she always makes a crude joke after saying that." I laughed.

"Well I hope that I get to meet this AI of yours someday she sounds like fun."

"Oh trust me if she has anything to say about getting to meet you all you will be meeting her soon. I guess it's a good thing she's repaired now though." I moved the now done pancakes with the other done pancakes and poured the last of the batter.

"Really? Wash made it sound that it was this big deal and really hard to fix."

"Well it's hard because AI's or at least mine protect their inner workings with something they live by like a lesson that they learn. Kappa my AI was easy to guess because she is trust so she lives by a saying of trust and lesson we both learned the hard way."

"What's the saying?"

"Trust a little never with your life. Simple enough don't trust someone with your life but still trust people."

"Why would your AI live by that?"

"Simple we both trusted Wash with our lives and that almost cost me my life and in turn almost got Kappa put into storage."

"That explains why you blew up at Wash."

"Yeah sorry about that. I can usually control my anger by stopping in the middle of my rant take a few deep breaths and be able to walk away. I don't usually end my rant by cursing either."

"Oh it's fine you kind of remind me of that Church guy or Grif. But nicer" I laughed at that.

"I'll take that as a complement." I put all the pancakes onto the same plate and moved the plate to the table. I went back grabbed the coffee and cups and put them on the table. It take me a minute to find the plates but I eventually found them and put them in front of everyone. I grabbed the coffee and poured everyone a cup I sat at a seat and got a good look at the people around me. Sarge looked to be in his sixties his buzz cut hair was grey with tips of white his grey eyes fixed in a beam of glee he was wearing a red t-shirt and red sweatpants. Simmons had fluffy light brown hair and hazel eyes he was wearing maroon t-shirt and maroon sweatpants. Grif had black hair brown eyes and really tan skin much unlike everyone else at the table who had pale skin. _I guess wearing full body armor almost all the time had its toll_. Grif was wearing orange t-shirt and orange sweatpants. Doc's hair was a little more frazzled then the last time I saw him and he looked half asleep still, he was wearing a purple t-shirt and purple sweatpants. _How cold did it get in here that everyone was wearing sweatpants?_

"So you wanted to ask some questions?" I said pouring some syrup onto my pancakes.

"Yes. So what is the recoil you mentioned?"

"The recoil is pretty much a backlash of my healing ability. You see the director was dosing me with the f-081x a concoction that some freelancer medics made. When the concoction is injected into someone it takes form and modifies some natural thing in there body for. For me it was healing as you witnessed yesterday. But there is always a downside like for me when I was first injected I felt really weak every time I would eat something I would throw it up I couldn't do anything without excessive pain. This caught my AI's attention and risked getting them exposed since they didn't have my permission to do anything to me. So they injected me once every week eventually the side effects went away."

"But wouldn't that make you reliant on this concoction. I mean when you run out you could die!" Simmons stated

"Maybe but first I'll go through the recoil reliving every single wound that I've ever healed from if I live through that I assume that my healing ability will either be self-sustaining with no side effects or I will have no healing ability what so ever. Oh and to be quite honest Simmons I don't care if I die or not as long as it's for the right reason."

"Man that is fucked up."

"I'm a soldier what are you going to do?"

"I'm a soldier and I care if I die." Grif said

"Let me rephrase I'm a good soldier."

"Amen to that." Sarge chimed in. _Yep its official I fell down a rabbit hole and now everyone has gone batshit._

_"_Fuck you old man." Grif said to Sarge.

"What was that Grif?"

"Fuck you old man sir!"I leaned towards my left where Doc sat.

"Are they always like this?" I whispered so that the two bickering like an old married couple wouldn't hear us.

"Yeah pretty much." Doc said causally eating the last of his bacon.

"And I thought freelancers were batshit." He laughed and held out his hand.

"Welcome to red team." I grabbed his hand and shook.

"How do I always get into strange situations and meet strange people." The light in the room turned gold as Kappa appeared standing behind my chair hands over her ears.

"Wouldyou two shut up already for god's sake you bicker like an old married couple!"

"Well hello to you to Kappa. How are you today?"

"Shut up fox!"

"No." I looked around to see everyone very confused. "So. This is my AI Kappa."

"Yo. What's up?" She said. Doc waved at the AI. But everyone else looked rather shell shocked except Donut who jumped up looked at the AI held his hand out and said.

"Hi my names Donut" Kappa looked at Donut's hand then back at his face.

"Um hi I can't shake your hand because I'm an AI." She said while trying to grab his hand several times. But to no avail. I stood and crossed my arms knowing that they may not like my AI. "The only one I can touch is the person that I'm implanted in." Kappa said placing her arm on my shoulder and leaning. I winced as she leaned on my right arm which had been stabbed two days ago by an iridium knife, the only thing that I can't heal from. _Fuck iridium. Stupid piece of metal. I mean come on who thinks that they need a iridium knife! Probably would have been cheaper to drop a castle on me, might have hurt less too._ Kappa pulled away and turned to me. "Sorry!"

_It's fine_. I thought giving her a smile trying to mask the massive pain that I felt from her sensors.

"No you're not and stop trying to hide things from me_!" she said in that annoying high pitched squeak her voice got into when she was worried. _"Okay. Okay I get it. I'll stop." She said looking towards the confused reds.

"Kappa is implanted in my head so she can hear my thoughts what seems like a one sided conversation can actually be two sided but with one side answering with their thoughts. This is also how AIs and their hosts talk if the AI is not projecting themselves to where the human eye can see them which is all very confusing and I don't understand it so Kappa can explain it if you want her to."

"You have an AI?" There was anger and horror behind Sarge's words.

"Yes. And I know you guys have had bad experiences with AIs but Kappa is different than Omega or Gary because Omega is rage and Gary is deceit but Kappa is trust." I stood in front of my AI as a way of protecting her against the reds unknowing of what they would do as Kappa shrunk down to only two inches tall and hid behind my shoulder. Because it was easier to just slip into my mind and go into full battle mode if we had to.

"Why do you have an AI?"

"Because I have an enhancement." I said not backing down. No one will hurt my AI. "It creates a force field that absorbs the blast and allows me to explode my enemies by either them hitting me or me hitting them."

"Would you describe yourself as powerful?" Sarge's voice was grave.

"Um I guess so?" I said completely confused.

"Good enough for me!" Sarge said more than happy with my answer. "Welcome to red team!"

"Ok sorry. You see I'm half a block behind you and not sure where you went so if you could back up and explain how you went from homicidal over my AI to welcome to red team in exactly three seconds!" I waited while Sarge gave me the run down on what happened with Wash including him saying that I was going to join red team if they helped save me. I stood there for a moment trying to understand how Wash had gotten even more stupid over the time that I hadn't seen him. Which was perfect timing for Wash to walk in. Kappa appeared next me and grabbed my shoulders and yelled.

"CAN WE KILL HIM NOW!?"

"NO!" Caboose yelled from behind Wash. "I don't want to die!"

"Not you dipshit she wants to kill Wash!" Tucker yelled from beside Caboose just as Church appeared from around the corner.

"Oh that's fine if she kills Wash." Caboose said completely ignoring that little fact in favor for a butterfly out in the grass which he ran towards immediately upon seeing.

"Fox is going to kill Wash?" there was a slight pause before Church said anything else. "That's awesome! Can I watch?" I stalked towards Wash completely intent on killing him until someone came up behind me and grabbed my forearm I turned to look and saw Doc. That's when it hit me there was no longer that comforting buzzing in the back of my head. Instead there was the deep growl of something else. Or should I say another AI. **_Oh that was close wasn't it dear little Arkansas. _**_Shit Omega! __**Yes it's me and we have found you!**_

"Everyone pack up! They've found us!"

"Who?" Doc asked.

"The freelancers." I said. "There's no time to explain! Go pack up we need to get out of here I'll cover you!" all the sim troopers ran off to go pack up. **_You know it is really funny to see you all running around in a panic. _**I growled both internally and externally. I felt the obnoxious AI digging through my mind trying to find some information probably to torture me with. I growled internally again and then shoved him away from my memories and put up a door with chains and padlock between the pesky AI and my precious and rather fragile memories. I turned and scanned the black abyss for any kind of movement. Nothing. _Damnit! __**Something wrong Foxy? **__Fuck off! __**Now where would be the fun in that?**_ I flexed my jaw in frustration. I walked back into the base and looked at the weapons I had energy sword and a pistol. _Yeah I'm going to need more than this_. I walked outside went around the corner and let my eyes adjust to the darkness when they did I made sure that my armor lights were off. I dashed towards my warthog and opened the flat bed and pulled out an assault rifle, a shotgun, a second pistol and what looked like a small black metallic stick only about two inches long. I locked my assault rifle and shotgun on my back. The magnetic lock making a strange noise as the weapons snapped into place. I strapped my pistol on the outside of my left leg since my other pistol was already strapped to my right leg I stuffed the metal stick into a compartment and closed the flatbed part of my warthog and then dashed into red base I got there just as blue team pulled up in front of red base. There were several bags hanging from the two mongooses that they had and a several bags thrown into the back of a warthog we all ran inside red base for protection from any snipers that could be lurking around.

"You guys ready?" I asked.**_ You can try to hide but we will always be able to find you agent Arkansas. _**_Fuck off Omega. Stupid asshole. __**Now that's a little mean don't you think? **__You know what? As soon as were out of here you getting out of my head. __**Oh and how are you going to make that happen? **__Me and kappa have been hard at work I assure you… then again you will be finding out soon won't you? __**What are you planning!**_ I shoved the AI away from my thoughts and put up another door. The AI fumed but I ignored him in favor for the blues.

"Yeah we're ready. But how do you know that freelancers are coming?" Wash asked although he seemed on edge._ Did something happen while they were at blue base_? Omega clawed at the door between him and my thoughts. I shook my head trying to relive some of the pain that came with having Omega in my head.

"The director put Omega in my head awhile back the first thing Omega did was learn enough about my head to be able to shift into my head even if I don't have my radio on. But I learned a bit from Kappa like how to keep him from taking over my body which only works for a sort time…." I trailed off to let that sink in. "But it works. Oh and by the way it seems he put Kappa offline for the duration of his visit….. The bastard." Wash twitched and I backed up because I knew just how much he hated AI's…. And I knew that he would take my weapons if I let him….. I also knew that there were some bad freelancers coming and dare I say that they just might be better than Wash?

"Weapons." He wasn't asking he was demanding.

"No." I wasn't bargaining and I can be just as stubborn as him damnit! He stepped forward as he said.

"Look Fox this isn't you speaking its Omega." I double checked and yep Omega was still locked behind the Doors that I had set up screaming his head off and saying some not very nice things. Wash lunged forward trying to pin me down I side stepped and grabbed his hand he tried coming back around to get me but I whipped him around so he faced blue team. I kicked his feet out from underneath him and grabbed his other hand he struggled in my grip but I pushed him forward he face planted on the hard floor. _Good thing he was wearing a helmet! Although I've done that to him plenty of times in training without any armor so it's not like he wouldn't be fine. _Wash got back up and came at me again he went low trying to grab around my stomach. I side stepped again but this time he must have seen it coming because he kicked my legs out from under me I started to fall backwards but I saved it by flipping instead. I landed on my feet but stumbled and fell onto my right knee. I looked up just in time to see Wash coming at me again I flipped again this time kicking him in the chin this sent him stumbling back a few steps. Which was all the opening I needed I dashed forward and lashed out with a flurry of punches to his chest and kicks to his abdomen I made sure to hold back so that I didn't hurt him but just knocked the air out of him. We were moving back the whole time when he was a good two feet away from the wall I kicked him in the chest knocking him against the wall he pounced off the wall and started to fell forward but he caught himself with his left hand keeping him from face planting. I heard him coughing as his right arm stretched around his chest piece he was probably trying to stop the pain shooting through his ribs. I breathed a little heavy from the fight I slowed my breathing down to normal and then walked towards Wash who was still on the ground probably catching his breath. I kneeled down so my face was close to his.

"There are freelancers coming and they had Omega that means that the Chairmen thought that these freelancer could control Omega. That could mean Texas or the Meta or Carolina! Let's face it you were good but I was, am and unless something major happens I always will be better then you. Now! Are you just going to stay there forever or are you going to get up?"

"You didn't seem better than me when I just had Epsilon implanted in me." I glared at the freelancer I might have been mad before but now I was pissed.

"Ever think that maybe I was actually stupid enough to love you and even more stupid to think that you loved me back so that for whatever that meant you wouldn't try to kill me!"

"Epsilon was controlling me! You can't fight your AI you of all people should know this!"

"I fought mine off! You know when you were having an argument with Epsilon in the hallway we passed by and she toke over and she had the knife inches away from your heart and for some strange reason I saved your ass! But I guess that's just another thing you don't remember." I stood and walked down the hallway that turned before I could see what was down it. I was going to see how the reds were doing. I heard the  
sound of boots come from behind me. "What do you want Wash!?" I said angrily stopping and turning on my heel to face the man. Wash was about to say something but was cut off by the sound of a sniper shot sounding across the hall. "Whose there?" I yelled pulling out my assault rifle. The people that came around the corner was none other than the Meta and North Dakota.

"North?" Wash asked baffled. The Meta and north pulled their weapons on us.

"Get down." I yelled as north and the Meta started shooting at us. I pulled Wash into a room unaware there were stairs right there going down. We tumbled down the steps knocking the air out of me as I hit. My assault rifle slid across the shiny floor I moved to pick it up when I saw two white armored boots coming down the stairs. I pulled Wash up and grabbed the small metal stick. As it sensed my holding it tensely the stick grew to be almost seven feet long I backed up a bit and prepared for battle. Wash drew a battle rifle and aimed. I glanced around the room we were in, it was your basic storage room but something caught my eye a red grenadier helmet I walked over and grabbed the helmet off the shelf. It looked undamaged and a grenadier helmet was my last helmet I placed the helmet on my head and locked it into place the HUD came to life with a hum. The helmet shimmered as it became black with gold highlights just like the rest of my armor. The Meta and North came running full speed down the stairs and aimed their weapons at me I moved back and to my left making them come closer to me I flicked my radio on. "Wash get the sim soldiers out of here. I've got this." Wash turned to me and nodded his head. I dashed forward as North fired his sniper and the Meta shot his brute shot at me moved just enough to the right to avoid getting shot but I still knew if I didn't have armor my left side would have bad burns from the explosion when I was within range of hitting them I swiped at North sending him into a wall. The Meta tried hitting me with the sharp edge of his brute shot I crouched and swept his feet out from under him he went down with a loud thud. North came from behind and grabbed me pinning my arms. I backed up into a nearby wall shoving North into it hard he gave a grunt but still held strong. The Meta stood and started running at us with a snarl. I waited and right as the Meta was about to punch me I turned around facing the wall North slammed into me and sent us both to the ground it was my turn to grunt North in full armor wasn't exactly light. I shrugged North off of me and began to stand but the Meta picked me up around the throat and held me a foot above the ground black dots danced in my vision I kicked the Meta in the chin as hard as I could he stammered back a few steps much like Wash did earlier. North stated to get up behind me so before either could recover I picked up my assault rifle and ran up the stairs. All the doors that lined the hallway were now wide open. _I guess the reds are out of the base_. I dashed down the hall through the living room and out into the dark abyss that was outside. It had started raining while I was inside. Which I realized as I ran outside and lighting struck nearby blinding me and stopping me dead in my tracks. I looked around to see all the vehicles still in front of the base and several lights lighting up full armored soldier. I made a list in my mind of who all was there as I turned my own lights on._ Grif, Simmons, Sarge, Donut, Doc, Church, Tucker, Caboose and just as I scanned over Wash two more figures appeared behind him._ "Wash behind you!" I yelled dashing towards the figures. More lighting struck nearby but far enough so I could still see. The lighting lit up the two figures showing aqua and black armor. "Shit its Tex and Carolina!" I yelled grabbing Wash by the arm and yanking him back some steps. I heard someone coming up behind us looked back to see the Meta and North running at us. I gave Wash the keys to my warthog. "ALL OF YOU GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" everyone but Wash got into a vehicle. I shoved a small chip into Wash's hands. "This will take you to the base I mentioned earlier. NOW GO!" I said shoving him away from me. "I'LL BUY YOU GUYS TIME!" He hesitated….

POV SWITCH

WASH

_Why is she giving these to me?_

_"_This will take you to the base I mentioned earlier. NOW GO!" She said shoving away._ NO! She can't stay they willKILL HER! "_I'LL BUY YOU GUYS TIME!_"_ I hesitated and looked at the sim troopers that were getting frantic. _There my friends I have to get them out of here but I can't let her die here. "_WASH! Go! Please_." _Her voice was pleading_…. _So I turned and got into her warthog and started driving I yelled as I went by_._

"I'LL BE BACK! I PROMISE_!" _She pulled that stick thing of hers out and flicked it to extend it. The last thing I saw in my review mirror was Tex, Carolina, the Meta and North running towards Fox at full speed.

POV SWITCH

FOX

Wash drove away the others following close behind. I had to take a deep breath. I heard the freelancers run towards me. _If I live through this it will be miracle._ I sighed and deflected Tex trying to punch me by going down on one knee and hitting her in the head Carolina wasn't far behind Tex so I swiped her feet out from underneath her. I stood and turned towards the base to face the Meta and North. The Meta was ahead of North but not by much. I clenched the stick that York had named Alice in both my hands. I held Alice across my chest and pushed my right hand forward catching the Meat in the chest knocking him off balance I moved forward pushing on my right hand making the Meta fall on his back beside me I hopped over his legs throwing North off. I swung out hitting North in his throat he was still running when I hit him so he dropped to his knees coughing. Tex and Carolina were up and attacking me at the same time. Carolina tried punching me in the face I just barely blocked her in time. But Tex kicked my hand and sent Alice flying. The ground beneath me turned to slippery sludge as the rain continued. Tex and Carolina were kicking and punching relentlessly and without stop. I could just barely block each hit in time. **_Having troubles Arkansas?_**_ Oh great the last thing I needed was Omega putting his two cents in. _The distraction from Omega made me miss the Meta get up and start coming at me with his brute shot. The sharp side caught the light of lighting I tried to action roll to my right away from the onslaught of freelancers but the sharp side sill cut through my armor still cut deep into the skin beneath. The pain threw my action roll off so I fell onto the wet muddy sludge-like ground. I tried to move back some get any kind of distance from the people who were once my friends but now were just shells of who they use to be. The Meta came forward and sat on my chest. I felt Omega leave my head in favor of Tex, I also felt Kappa return into my head. Suddenly the area around me was lit up by both gold and purple.

"Tell us Arkansas. What is so important about these sim soldiers that you would die for them?" Omega asked. I didn't answer and there was no way I was letting him get his hands on that information any time soon. Well I guess we will just knock you out and take your memories." Omega was just a little too happy about that for my tastes. "Meta if you will do the honors please." I turned towards my AI as pure panic ran through me I did the only thing I could think of.

"KAPPA ERASE MY MEMORIES! OVERIDE TWO-DELTA-FIVE!" kappa nodded and disappeared. I looked up and saw the Meta's fist coming down. Everything went blank.

**_Authors Note_**

**Shout out to H2ohas and A6MZero for following my story and A6MZero favorited it also! You both are awesome!**

**sinisterly**

**~themarkedfreelancer **


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